Zero's Heart - Mina Carter Page 0,66

a sideways glance at Skinny and a proud grin. That was his girl.

“Let him go,” Eris ordered, her voice hard and rendered mechanical by the suit’s speakers. Rolling her shoulders, she brought all her guns to bear on the small group. “Or…”

There was no need for the “or.” Each and every soldier in the group came to the same conclusion at the same time. Their faces paled as they took in the armed group behind Eris.

All bar one. A dark-haired human held a handgun pressed against the neck of the civilian in cuffs. It took him less than a second to recognize both of them. The aggressor in the combat uniform was Mills, the guy he’d let arrest him on the station so he could get closer to Eris.

A plant. SO13 undercover.

Dammit, he should have just snapped the guy’s neck when he had the chance. But even as he thought it, he knew it wouldn’t have been any good. If it wasn’t Mills, it would have just been another face. Another “soldier” with questionable morals and even less honor than a mercenary.

His attention turned to the doctor. Tall and slender, his features were familiar. They were the same as Eris’s but written in masculine coding over a larger frame. There was no mistaking them as twins.

“Mills. Put it down or I won’t just turn you into swiss fucking cheese. I’ll turn you and your team into fucking jam.”

“See!” Sparky called out from the back of the group. “Preserve-based threats are so much more impressive. Now I suggest you do as she says. You’re out-numbered and out-gunned.”

Mills lifted an eyebrow, his expression tight and eyes shining with an edge of desperation. He yanked Eric closer, trying to fold himself behind his human shield.

“Yeah? I count ten of us and only six of you,” he shouted. “We can take you.”

“Boss…” the trooper to his left murmured. Zero’s enhanced hearing picked up his whisper loud and clear. Clicking the tab in his helmet, he broadcast it to the rest of the team. “Did you miss the fact that’s a Scorperio? And I dunno what the fuck they are… I’ve never seen suits or weapons like that before.”

“We’re your worst fucking nightmare,” T’Raal growled, stepping forward to stand next to Eris. As he did, his helmet folded back to reveal his non-human features.

Ok… ay. So much for concealing their presence and not starting an interstellar war then. Zero joined the rest as they all stepped forward, helmets folding down.

“Oh shit, they’re those aliens… the Lathar….”

Sparky chuckled. “Some of them are. I’m just the bastard about to fuck up your day because I can.”

“We’re worse than Lathar.” T’Raal grinned. It wasn’t a nice expression. It was the kind of expression that prefaced a threat to wipe out your entire family line or cause so much hurt and suffering your ancestors would feel the backlash.

“We’re Warborne.”

“Drop your weapons, now,” Eris ordered, her voice losing any little hint of humor it held before. It was a tiny difference, but stark. The woman had finally lost her patience. She wouldn’t be throwing words next time. She would be throwing bullets.

One by one, the SO13 squad dropped their weapons.

Zero gave a small grunt. Not all humans were stupid then… he had begun to wonder.

“Eric,” she said, her voice a little softer. “Walk toward us.”

The doctor’s eyes shifted sideways, as though he were trying to look through his own skull to see what Mills would do. A bead of sweat broke away and rolled down the side of his face. Then he took a step. His feet moved first, the forward momentum rolling up his body, through his knees, his hips and then finally he pulled from Mills’ hold.

Zero snapped his rifle up, aiming for the center of Mills’ forehead as Eric ran, stumbling toward them.

He scrambled behind Eris, still shaking as he hid in cover. Then he seemed to recall himself, standing up and smoothing his lab coat down, his gaze darting between all the men around him. They all ignored him, allowing him the moment of weakness as they focused on the human soldiers. He had none of Eris’s steel or grit. Zero was surprised he wasn’t a blubbering wreck.

“The woman. The alien,” Eris carried on. “Where is she?”

Most of the soldiers looked blank, shaking their heads and looking at each other in confusion. They didn’t know anything. Like mushrooms, grunts were kept in the dark and fed on shit.

But Mills’ eyes sparkled with something he quickly suppressed.